knights and monsters
by Picup
Summary: Companion piece to life and duty. During a game of Knights and Monsters, the young Eli gets lost through in a forest where she strays off the main path to meet a girl with long purple hair in two pig tails.


A/N: This spawned from a conversation that basically went "hey what should I write" "nozoeli fire emblem au pls, wait I might regret this" "oh did you say angst"

...

ヽ(*・ω・)ﾉ please enjoy! The large time skip (you'll see) takes place after the events of life and duty.

* * *

Eli, like most children in the village, loves to play 'Knights and Monsters', a game of imagination and acting. There were several roles and for the most part, the blonde was always chosen to be the heroic knight–the girls who chose to be the captive Princess always wanted to be saved by her.

The blonde child doesn't mind, and takes her role seriously with a grand smile on her face. In one of their rounds of Knights and Monsters, Eli is sent through the forest where the Monster has taken the Princess (the other two kids left ahead of time).

Even though Eli's specific instructions was to go straight down the path in the forest, she somehow ends up straying off the path and finds herself lost in the thicket. She pushes down the branches in her way and looks around. She has no idea where she is at this point and no sense of direction.

Eli's shoulders slump, she was going to be late for dinner tonight and her Mother was going to make her favourite tonight… Never mind that, the Princess wasn't going to be saved!

She clenches her fist, she is determined determined to find her way back and rushes forward while calling for the Princess.

The only response she hears is the rush of water and blinks. Is there a stream of water nearby? She follows the sound and comes into a clearing–a small stream pushing through the middle of the land. Nearby the stream, a large boulder with a flat top is upright, with a small girl sitting on top.

"Princess?"

Eli calls out and immediately shuts her mouth as she realizes that the girl there was definitely _not_ one of the kids playing the Princess role. She has purple hair drawn into two pigtails and wears a simple dress. She has a book that covers most of her face, and lowers it when Eli speaks.

"… I think your Princess is in another area." She says with a small giggle.

Eli feels a blush fighting to her cheeks and rubs the back of her neck sheepishly, "S-Sorry, I-I thought you were someone else." She replies as she approaches the small girl (who puts her book down now). "What are you doing out here by yourself?"

"Reading." The girl chimes and holds up the book. It looks old and heavy, like an ancient tome that her Mother has in their study. Eli holds up her makeshift sword, "Why don't you come play with us?"

The girl blinks as she tilts her head. She giggles quietly after as she pulls up her book again, "I think magic is a bit more interesting."

"Magic?" Eli plops her wooden sword on the ground and pulls herself up onto the rock. She crawls to where the girl is and looks curiously at the book in her lap, all thoughts about the game pushed to the back of her mind.

The girl laughs as Eli's face scrunches up at all the difficult mumble jumble that's on the page. She turns a page over, "I want to use magic one day, and if I study hard now, I will be able to." She says happily, although Eli can feel a sense of longing in her tone, she stays quiet.

"What are you going to use magic for?" Eli asks curiously as her cerulean eyes stare at the girl next to her. The girl smiles brightly at Eli.

"To protect those that I love."

* * *

As years pass on by, the game 'Knights and Monsters' is taught to the next generation of young children while those who used to play before move on. Eli decides that she wants to integrate the game into her actual life–she wants to become a real knight.

Her Mother, who is a dancer and her Father who owns a trade company are surprised at her decision, but it's not them that push her on–it's her younger sister, who plays the game 'Knights and Monsters' with the new generation of village children. Her parents eventually warm up to the decision, and give their eldest daughter their blessings to enlist when she is of age.

Eli, who knows that she has a lot of work ahead of her, trains herself in the practice of different weapons that her Father stores at home (for show he claims). However, since she is a bit clumsy, she refrains from training at home (her Mother heavily insists), and trains in the forest–in a clearing that she discovered when she was a child.

The blonde breathes heavily as she lowers her spear. She takes a swig from her canteen nearby and looks over at the boulder with the flat top. "Any progress?"

"Mm." There's a grunt from the top of the rock.

Eli and the girl–Nozomi has met numerous of times since their first encounter. Eli learns that Nozomi's family is from a neighboring country that moved in the next village over. That village, however, is an older village with less children and more elderly. This is an excellent village for Nozomi's parents, who both practice the art of healing.

This leaves Nozomi by herself a lot of times, hence why she was alone that day, studying magic–which Eli thinks runs in Nozomi's blood. Eli didn't like Nozomi being by herself all the time, and always made trips outside of the village to visit Nozomi at their meeting spot.

"I think I need more time with the basics." Nozomi sighs in defeat as she slaps close the bright red tome in her hand and pushes it away. Eli wipes the sweat off of her forehead with a towel she threw off to the side earlier and stares over at Nozomi.

"Maybe you're pushing yourself too much. You're already trying to learn an arcfire tome when you've barely finished the elfire one." Eli lectures as she walks over to the boulder, and easily hoists herself up to sit next to Nozomi. The purple-haired mage already stuffs her nose in another tome making Eli sigh. " _Nozomi._ "

"The pot calling the kettle black isn't nice, Elicchi." Nozomi says from behind her new tome with a slight snicker. Her emerald eyes look over at the blonde next to her, gleaming. "I'm surprised you can even _lift_ that steel spear." She snickers now.

A look of shock hits Eli's face, and she huffs. "I-I'm not that weak!" She protests, even flexing her arm for show. Nozomi laughs from behind her book, slapping Eli's arm with the spine of her tome, "I don't need to see your _non-existent_ muscles, Elicchi!"

"Nozomi!" Eli huffs as she moves her arm to take the tome away from Nozomi, but the purple-haired mage laughs and hits Eli with the spine again, this time on the forehead. "Nuh uh uh, Elicchi, remember the _last_ time you tried to do that?" A wicked grin spreads across her face, and Eli stops immediately.

Her Mother didn't want to hear her explanation of why her chest armor had a burn mark and why she was soaked thoroughly through the last time. Eli just grumbles in defeat before she lies down on the flat top while Nozomi snickers and goes back to reading her tome. It's silent between the two, but Eli enjoys the comfortable atmosphere that settles.

"Hey, Nozomi. We're almost of age now, aren't we?" She brings up as she counts in her head the years that has gone by since they first met. Nozomi is flipping through her tome mindlessly, reading the ancient scriptures and characters as she answers simply, "I was of age at the beginning of summer."

Eli is slightly surprised to find that Nozomi was older than her–but it was only by a season and she brushes it off coolly. "… What are you planning to do then?"

Nozomi turns the page in her tome as she traces the figures with a finger, "Continue to do what I've always done."

"… What about becoming a knight with me?"

Nozomi's finger stops tracing the figure and an emerald gaze falls upon the blonde. "… I am a _mage_ , Elicchi, not a knight."

"A knight is just a title! Like… a soldier. You don't _have_ to be a weapon-wielding person. There's plenty of people in the Exalt's army that uses magic and staves too." She explains as her cerulean gaze meets Nozomi's emerald. Nozomi is silent but has a perplexed look on her face, like she's contemplating the proposition.

"… Well, there is more tomes to study if I do join the Exalt's Army and gain access to the library…" She says, almost nodding to herself as if trying to convince herself to join. Eli sits up in excitement, "is that a yes?"

"I will talk to my parents first, but they probably seen it coming." The purple-haired mage sighs exasperatedly, but grins at Eli to confirm her agreement to join the Knights. Eli is elated and hops off the boulder to retrieve her spear.

"Let's train together, then!"

A fire ball suddenly shoots by Eli and she jumps close to the stream just in case. "Might I remind you, Elicchi, that I am a _mage_. Not a brute like you… knights. We mages are fragile and intellectual creatures."

Eli snorts, "Intellectual I can take, fragile? I don't think so."

"Hey!"

* * *

When Eli finally becomes of age, in the period between the colourful leaves falling to the air around them becoming cooler, she enlists for the Exalt's Army like she wished. Nozomi follows after Eli, upholding her agreement that they made months before.

However, Nozomi is held on a different level in comparison to Eli. Nozomi is heralded as a _genius_ for all her knowledge about magic–her experience with both anima magic and healing magic makes her a bright star among the recruits to the older soldiers.

Which meant more books and old musty tomes, much to Eli's chagrin (even though she knew that these books were part of Nozomi's reason for joining the army in the first place). After a long day of training and constant sparring, Eli can't wait until she hits the bed for a few hours of sleep before the day repeats.

She opens the door to her room with a tired sigh, closing it right after. The candle on the night table by the second bed in the room is lit, and a back is turned to her. Eli throws her pack on her bed before she flops, "you're back early."

"Fire practice today. Was let out beforehand because well." A pause and a snicker comes from Nozomi, "You know very well how experienced I am with fire magic."

Eli grumbles underneath her breath as she takes the blanket and drapes it over herself. "Don't stay up too late."

"Mm." Nozomi's grunt is noncommittal as she flips to the next page in the book she is reading.

A few minutes pass and Eli suddenly sneezes. She shudders a little, it was getting colder by the day and she has not prepared herself for it. She rolls over in her bed, Nozomi's back is still facing her. "Nozomi, can you light a fire in the middle of the room?"

"And burn our entire room down, not to mention a large part of the Kingdom? Don't be silly, Elicchi." Nozomi's response is light and full of teasing as she continues to concentrate on her book. Eli sighs and attempts to bundle herself up to keep warm.

She finds herself staring at Nozomi's backside some more, before an idea hits her. She grins, slipping out of bed silently, and grabs her blanket before she dips onto Nozomi's bed. Nozomi is too into her tome to notice the sudden weight behind her.

Eli wraps her arms around Nozomi, curling up to the backside of the purple-haired mage. _This_ catches Nozomi's attention and she immediately looks over her shoulder, "Elicchi?!"

" _Shh_ , this is much more effective in staying warm _and_ it'll make you sleep earlier." Eli mumbles as she drapes the blanket over both of them and rests her head against Nozomi's shoulder. Nozomi is silent, trying to hide the rising blush as she listens to Eli's steady breathing that tickles the soft skin of her neck.

"… At least blow out the candle, Elicchi."

"Mmm… too tired."

* * *

Time passes and Eli becomes the great knight like she wished. She becomes strong and dependable, burdening responsibility of perhaps becoming a captain one day. She already takes on small-scale missions on her own, occasionally having the chance to take another with her.

Of course, that other, is Nozomi.

Nozomi, following through with the success that was set out for her when she first enlisted for the knights, becomes one of the strongest mages in the Exalt's army. Her continuous studying pushes her forward and she ends up already teaching new recruits at such a young age. But when Eli asks her to go with her on a mission, she always makes time for the blonde, and happily travels with her.

They become this ' _unbeatable_ ' duo that doesn't go unheard in the kingdom.

A particular request comes in. One of the scouts reports of a band of brigands that may have set up camp in a forest that is located a bit _too_ close to the village that Eli hailed from. The blonde, not wanting anything to happen to her home, immediately volunteers to investigate this report.

She is allowed, and obviously asks Nozomi to go with her. Nozomi, worried about the situation itself, goes with Eli.

"Elicchi, don't you think it's suspicious?"

"Hm?"

Eli is ahead of Nozomi, eager to find these brigands to rid of them. She barely hears Nozomi's skepticism about their mission. "This, it feels… scripted." Nozomi pauses and Eli stops as well to look at her.

"Why would brigands be here in the first place? Close to a village that wouldn't be worth raiding?"

The blonde is silent as she puts Nozomi's conjecture together. "That…" She starts and her brow furrows up in confusion. It made sense after all–

An arrow whizzes right by her and she screams at Nozomi to hit the ground before she moves herself. A barrage of arrows pierce the spot where she used to be standing. Eli takes her spear from its rest placing on her back, glaring in the shadows of the trees.

She can hear fast and heavy movement–they were making their move.

"Keep my back covered and use low-scale magic, we can't be destroying a place that is so precious to us." A grin curls up on the corner of Eli's lips as Nozomi laughs gently while opting out for a weaker tome. "Honestly, Elicchi, being sentimental in combat can get you killed, you know."

Eli just laughs, "Only with you." she mumbles before bounding forward as men emerge from the bushes with axes raised high.

* * *

"There. Really is no. End to this!"

Eli grunts in between strikes and parries as her and Nozomi find themselves in a circle of blood and bloodied bodies that coat the forest floor. She's taken two cuts on her face and an arrow is deeply embedded through her shoulder, that even the armor couldn't keep it from piercing her skin.

Her spear broke long ago, now a mangled piece within the body of a brigand she killed. She holds an iron sword that she kept with her in case of situations like these. The blonde can hear Nozomi from behind her, panting lightly, and knows that this long battle is wearing her down as well.

Nozomi is silent, fingering the spine of her fire tome that was on one last use. She looks over her shoulder and grimaces slightly as Eli decapitates a man that was trying to gut her. "Elicchi, we need to get out of here."

"Nozomi?"

Eli's voice is strained but she looks at the mage, whose face is sweaty but laced with seriousness. "There's a path we can follow out of the forest. We can get out from there and take a few hours to recuperate and send for help." Nozomi explains quickly, side stepping an arrow that nearly takes her eye.

"Make a path for us and I'll be right behind you!" She hastily says to Eli, slipping the fire tome underneath her cloak. Eli trusts Nozomi with this decision and leaps over one of the mangled bodies, taking a man out with her blade before grabbing Nozomi's arm.

With one last ounce of strength, she takes the mage with her and makes a break for it.

* * *

Nozomi was correct that a path was laid out for them to leave the forest–however she didn't take into the fact that the survivors of the group that wanted to kill them so badly would continue to chase them. "I really wish they would stop pursuing us."

Eli mutters underneath her breath. Even though her chest was heaving hard, she finds some time to complain. Nozomi looks over Eli's shoulder, pointing out the bridge that appears in their vision. "Over that bridge and pass those trees will lead us out."

The blonde heaves a sigh of relief, "We'll lose them once we get out…" She states and crosses the bridge with almost a grin. Until she blinks, her arm is suddenly lighter.

She turns around, Nozomi has let go and is staring at her with a small smile on her face. "Nozomi? There's no time to play jokes." She starts and goes to take Nozomi's hand to run with her, but Nozomi's voice stops her in her tracks.

"No."

Eli's eyes widen, "N-Nozomi?"

The purple-haired mage smiles sadly, "… Past those trees and just down the path is the village where my parents and all the elderly people live." The cerulean eyes widen as she watches Nozomi pulls out the fire tome–the one that only had one use.

"You mean… you…"

"I want you to escape, Elicchi. My Parents can heal your wounds and give you a horse back to the Kingdom. You'll be fine from there."

Nozomi opens the book and it's already glowing with magic. Eli makes another step forward, "Nozomi! You can't-"

"Remember, Elicchi."

The fire tome is glowing a bright gold and the corners can be seen already burning up. The smile on Nozomi's face embeds itself in Eli's mind.

"I learned magic so I can protect those that I love."

The bridge is set on fire a second later–the flames burn high that Eli can't see anything. Her jaw is slightly ajar and her body racks through several of different emotions. She screams for Nozomi–she screams for her to come back.

But all she can hear in response is the crackle of fire and a mix of metal and magic coming together.

* * *

 _Several years later_

* * *

Umi gingerly shuffles the papers in her arms with care as she walks down the hall of the castle. It has been about a week since she was allowed to leave her bed (well, Kotori's, but that was a long story), and as soon as she was well and able, her Captain asked for a report about the battles weeks before.

She stares at all the sheets in her hand with a heavy sigh, even off the battlefield her Captain expected a lot from her. "It's because of my closeness to the Princess." She concludes silently under her breath before she stops at a familiar door, knocking twice.

A muffled ' _come in_ ' is heard and she opens the door, stepping into the room with a slight bow before she closes it behind her. Kotori finishes hanging up her armor over the open window and skips over to Umi with a slight bounce in her step. She stands up the tips of her toes and kisses Umi's nose gently as a greeting.

Umi blushes sheepishly but greets the Princess brightly. "Is Captain Ayase around?"

"Ah, you just missed her. She said she had some business to take care of in her home village." Kotori replies and takes Umi's hand, "I'm just about to have some tea, come join me!"

The blue-haired knight blinks but allows herself to be taken to the table that is set up in the middle of the room. She places the sheets down before taking a seat across from the Princess' seat. "She seems to leave from time to time to her village, is… everything okay?" She's hesitant to ask, but curious behind her strict captain.

Kotori is humming gently to herself while pouring the tea. There's a bit of a forlorn look on her face before she answers Umi's question. "Eli… is looking for someone that she lost years ago."

* * *

When Eli arrives at the entrance of her village, she immediate hops off her horse, gently clicking her tongue at her steed who snorts a little. She laughs quietly before leading him through the village to where her house is, spotting a young blonde girl in the front with a bouquet of flowers in her hand.

The blonde girl notices her and waves, "Big Sis! You came!" She skips to her and hugs Eli tightly while being mindful of the flowers in her hands. Eli laughs quietly, patting the blonde, "I did say I was coming around this time if nothing happened, Alisa." She states with a matter of fact tone.

Alisa just pouts cutely but pulls away from Eli as she holds up the flowers to her–they were lilies. "I picked fresh lilies like you asked for."

"Ah, thanks. I'll leave you to take care of my horse while I step out then." Eli hands the reins over to Alisa before taking the bouquet of flowers gingerly, staring at them fondly. Alisa senses that Eli is about to leave and nods happily to her sister and tugs on the reins to lead the horse away.

Eli watches as her steed looks desperately at her–knowing that Alisa was going to put flower crowns over him. She just smiles apologetically and sets off into a forest that she used to enter many years before.

* * *

Eli strays off the path that is laid out in the forest, her feet automatically taking her into the deep thicket of the forest. She pushes down familiar branches and keeps going forward. The sound of water rushing down catches her ears, and she can't help but smile nostalgically at them.

She steps out of the thicket and into the clearing that she happened to come upon while playing Knights and Monsters; the clearing where she spent hours and days training.

The clearing that she first met Nozomi.

Out of habit, she looks over at a familiar boulder that is uprooted next to the running stream, and almost _expects_ to see a purple-haired pig tail girl sitting there, reading some musty, old tomes intently.

There's nothing there and her heart drops.

"… Nozomi." Eli finds herself calling out as she goes to the boulder now and sets the lilies down. She smiles as she stares at the lilies that dance with the gentle breeze, "It's been a while. I… a lot has happened, you know."

Eli's voice is hush and she gingerly takes one of the lilies from the bouquet, smiling at the white flower that flutters within her palm. "I've become the Captain for the Princess' personal guard. I also act as the Commander for the Exalt's army as well." She finds herself saying to the flower and turns around to lean against the boulder.

"You would be proud of me, for making it this far…" Her voice trails and Eli is trying to stop herself from shaking. She lowers herself onto the ground and twirls the small lily in her hand. "You know, there was one thing I never told you, but I have a feeling you probably already knew."

A wry smile crosses the blonde's face and she can feel tears materialize at the corner of her eyes. "I only asked you to join the knights with me so that we would always be together."

The lily drops now and Eli finds her head touching gently against her arms as tears silently fall. She cries, for the first time in years, as she can hear a familiar voice chiming in her head before they were separated.

" _I learned magic so I can protect those that I love."_


End file.
